Canadian Power Company Apologizes Over Map Showing ‘Lake America’
Newsweek · C · trust 54/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Hydro One has apologized after its online outage map incorrectly displayed Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” saying the error was caused by a third-party mapping service. Hydro One is the largest electricity transmission and distribution provider in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The incident came shortly after Google Maps began displaying “Lake America” for users in the United States following an executive order from President Donald Trump renaming the Great Lake.
“We are aware that Lake Ontario is being incorrectly labeled on our outage map,” a Hydro One spokesperson said via a post on X. “The issue originates from a third-party mapping service. We are working with our vendor to correct the issue as quickly as possible and restore the proper geographic reference. We regret the error and apologize for any confusion it has caused.”
Newsweek contacted Hydro One Monday via email for further comment.
Hydro One was not itself renaming the lake. The company uses an outside mapping service for its outage map, and the service appears to have incorporated the new U.S. geographic designation.
The outage map has since changed back to Lake Ontario, according to several posts on X.
Google Maps began updating its maps over the weekend after Trump signed an executive order on August 27 directing the U.S. government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The order directs the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to update the country's Geographic Names Information System to reflect the new name.
As reported by Newsweek , Google said U.S. users would see “Lake America,” while users in Canada would continue to see “Lake Ontario.” Users elsewhere would see both names.
But the change has also appeared on several Canadian websites that use third-party mapping tools. Maps on the websites of Hydro One, the LCBO and Metrolinx were among those reported to display “Lake America.”
The order claims that the deepest parts of the lake lie within U.S. territory and that the United States provides much of the infrastructure and security supporting the Great Lakes system. It directs federal agencies to replace references to Lake Ontario with “Lake America.”
Trump's executive order argues that the United States plays a major role in protecting and managing the Great Lakes and says Lake Ontario is an important American economic, environmental and historical resource.
The name change is not recognized in Canada. Lake Ontario remains the name used by Canadian authorities and on Canadian-facing Google Maps.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has pushed back against the change, unveiling a large sign reading: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
The dispute over the lake's name comes as relations between the United States and Canada have deteriorated over trade negotiations.
Washington and Ottawa have been engaged in a tariff dispute involving billions of dollars in goods, with both countries imposing or threatening tariffs . The latest tensions intensified after trade negotiations between the two countries broke down.
The Lake Ontario renaming is largely symbolic, but it has become another flashpoint in the increasingly hostile relationship between the neighboring countries. Reuters described the move as part of the growing trade conflict between the U.S. and Canada.
For Hydro One, the political dispute has resulted in an awkward technical problem: a Canadian electricity company's outage map temporarily displaying the U.S. government's new name for a lake that Canadians still call Lake Ontario.
The incident also echoes Trump's decision in 2025 to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” for U.S. government purposes. Google subsequently adopted the U.S. designation for American users while retaining different naming conventions everywhere else around the world.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Cristina Diciu.
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